(A/n: Sorry it's been a while, guys…I've been busy here. But I'm on Spring Break now! And you'll be meeting some other S.E. Hinton characters in here…If you've read "That Was Then, This Is Now," I mean…)

Chapter 25

Later that day, everyone had cleaned all their injuries and freshened up. Dally had to help her get her shirt off so she didn't open her injury more. He also had to wash her hair for her before she got into the shower. When she was done showering and got dried off, she put on a tank top so she wouldn't aggravate her injury. When she was done getting dressed, Soda helped her bandage the cut up again.

"You feeling better now, kid?" Darry asked when she was finally done getting cleaned up. Rae nodded. Her head wasn't throbbing as bad. Her arm still hurt, but it would hurt for a while.

"Yeah," she said as she pulled her hair over her right shoulder. "I'd like to go visit Curly, though…" She looked over at Two-Bit. "Would you drive me over there?" Her friend nodded and quickly stood up.

"Sure, whatever you want," he said, while slipping on his jacket. Sodapop helped her into her jean jacket.

"Don't be gone too long," Dally said. Rae nodded, said goodbye to everybody, and went out the door behind Two-Bit. They walked down to his house to grab the run-down car. The ride over wasn't anything special. They both were pretty much silent. Raelee mostly stared out her window. They parked in a random parking lot a couple of miles away from the Shepard's house. Once you got into the district that they lived in, there wouldn't be anywhere to park. A few miles wasn't that much anyway. From there, you could basically get anywhere that needed to be going to.

"Let's get something to eat first, huh, kid?" Two-Bit asked. "We haven't eaten since dinner last night and it's about lunch time now."

"I'm not very hungry, but we can go to the local fast food-joint if you want something," she said. He shrugged.

"Alright, let's go. I won't be long," he said. They walked down to the closest place, which happened to be a McDonalds. Two-Bit got a burger and some fries. Rae just sat a slurped on a Coke. She looked out of the window that was by their booth, then looked down at the table.

"He knew, Keith," she said. She had been calling him 'Keith' a lot lately. He stopped stuffing his face full of food long to look up at his friend.

"Who knew what, now?" he asked her. He studied her face. She looked sad and scared.

"Bob…Bob Shelton knew about…what my father did to me. I don't know how and I don't know when…but he found out," Rae answered, quietly. Two-Bit stared at her for a few seconds.

"This isn't good, Rae," he said, seriously. "This is really not good. He's a Soc. He'll go to the cops and he'll have you taken away. You know he will. We have to have something done about this…" Raelee nodded.

"I know. But, what could we possibly do?" He sighed.

"I don't know," he replied. "We'll have to talk to the gang and see if we can come up with some ideas." She leaned her head on one of her hands and closed her eyes. "But," he continued after a few seconds, "let's go see Curly first, alright?" She looked back up and him. He smiled. Rae nodded.

"Okay." Two-Bit finished his lunch and they both left the joint together. The walk was virtually silent. They walked about a mile before they ran into a couple of kids about Ponyboy's age. One of them, a funny looking boy with blond hair and gold eyes, ran right into Rae, while he was busy talking to the boy that was with him. He had hit her on her injured arm and made her wince.

"Sorry," the kid mumbled under her breath as he kept walking.

"Mark," his friend whispered. "You have to watch where you're going…"

"Hey!" Two-Bit had turned around. The two boys stopped and looked back at him.

"What?" Mark asked.

"Don't what me, you little shit. Get back here and apologize. You hurt her," he said.

"I said, 'sorry'," the younger boy said. He looked at his friend, who gave him a look. Finally, Mark sighed and walked back up to Rae.

"I'm sorry for running into you," he said, angrily. She shrugged and he went back to the other boy. The two turned and started back in their own direction. "See, Bryon? She didn't even care." Raelee looked over to her friend.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," she said. Two-Bit shrugged.

"I know." He smiled at her. "But you're special."

They started walked again. They joked around for the rest of the way and about ten minutes later, they arrived at the Shepards' house. They could hear shouting going on inside, most likely from the parents. No one understood why they just didn't get a divorce. Rae thought she also heard Angela Shepard's angelic voice in there somewhere as well. Two-Bit knocked on the door and a few seconds later, Tim opened the door.

"Hey, guys," he said as if he'd been expecting them, but he looked surprised. He looked pretty beat up from the night before. He nodded towards Two-Bit and looked Rae up and down. "How's the shoulder, kid? I saw you get a nasty cut." She shrugged.

"It hurts, but that's expected, I suppose. Hopefully it won't get infected, right?" she said, with a smile.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Hey, Tim, is Curly in?" she asked, taking a peek inside.

"Yeah, he is actually. He's back in his room, resting. He got pretty beat up trying to keep the Socs off of you and your brother last night," he said and moved out of the way so they could get in. "Come on in, I'll let ya see him." The two walked in and Tim led them back to the back, where they boys' bedrooms were. Angela sat on the couch, reading a magazine and occasionally yelling at her parents. She glared up at Rae as she went by. Raelee ignored the other girl and followed close behind Two-Bit. When they got back to his room, Curly was sitting up in his bed, reading a book. Tim stuck his head into the room.

"Hey, bro, you got some visitors." Curly put the book down on his lap and looked up. Rae and Two-Bit walked into the room.

"You don't seem like the type who would read too often," Raelee said as she sat down on the edge of his bed.

"I do when I don't have anything else to do," he said and smiled. He inspected her face. "It doesn't look like you got beat up too bad." She took off her jacket to show him the bandaging. "Or not." He looked back up at her face. "Is it deep?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it needs stitches. It'll start healing up soon, don't worry," she replied. He smiled. "You don't look too good yourself."

"I'm okay. Nothing I can't handle," he said. "They knocked me out just a few minutes after you, though. Tim had to literally drag me home." Rae smiled and put one of her hands on his.

"Just make sure you get better quickly, got it?" she said. He wrapped his hand around hers and smiled again. Then, he looked up at Two-Bit, who was just standing there.

"How'd you make out?" Curly asked.

"Oh, just a couple of bruises and scratches. Nothing much," the older boy answered. "I'm afraid Rae, here, got the worst of it. She's a tough one." The three of them talked for a few more minutes, but Two-Bit reminded her that Dally had told them not to stay out long.

"Alright, I guess we should go. Don't want to make big brother worry," Rae said, with a giggle.

"Oh, if you must," Curly said. She leaned over and gave him a kiss, then stood up. Two-Bit bid his farewells as well. They walked back out to the front room, where Tim was sitting on the couch watching TV, next to his sister, who was still reading her magazine.

"See ya later, Tim," Two-Bit said as he walked by the other boy and out the front door. Rae nodded towards him.

"Drop by anytime, Rae," Tim said. She nodded again.

"Bye, Tim." Then, she walked out the door.